- 16 hours ago
Shan, RJ, and Bobby were joined in-studio by FC Dallas President and North Texas Organizing Committee Co-Chair Dan Hunt, where he discussed the massive local excitement, demand for tickets, and how fans can buy them safely. Hunt also talked about the key matchups coming to Dallas, his predictions for the tournament, and more.
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00:00It is the beginning of the World Cup, and one of the station's favorites is joining us in studio,
00:05co-chair of the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee.
00:10Did I get the title correct, Mr. Hunt?
00:11Have you heard a longer intro ever?
00:14Did you get new business cards made?
00:16It was like four of them I had to staple together.
00:18It's a pamphlet.
00:19It's just pamphlet.
00:20Dan Hunt joining us in studio on 105.3 The Fan.
00:24What has your life been like over the last six months?
00:27Yeah, I tried the last 107 months.
00:29That's how long we've been working on this.
00:32It's been amazing, a cool journey.
00:34There have been great ups, you know, a few downs once in a while when you do this,
00:38but more importantly, I'm so excited to share this with my fellow Texan,
00:42to have the World Cup right here in Dallas.
00:44Have you felt the fever of it from local fans?
00:48We know everyone's going to be traveling and all that, but are you feeling it in DFW?
00:52Yeah, I'm seeing it now.
00:53The number of text messages I woke up to this morning with people saying,
00:57hey, congrats, it's finally here.
00:58The excitement.
00:59I will say one of my godsons, he nicknamed me Uncle Tickets.
01:04And so I've been getting hit up just a little bit.
01:07Yeah, we were told to reference you as Uncle Tickets.
01:11Pheasants keep coming up with you for some reason as well.
01:15So what type of ticket control, I'm not asking for, Choppy will ask for himself.
01:19I'm going to ask for Tickets.
01:20I'm not asking for Tickets.
01:21Why is it?
01:21I just need one.
01:22I don't even need one.
01:23Because obviously the tickets are an international topic.
01:29The demand, the pricing, are you going to be, how many games are you personally going to be at?
01:36Well, I think I'm going to see about 17 games.
01:38Whoa!
01:39Yeah, I'm going to do all in Dallas, right?
01:40It is my day job.
01:43See a few in Kansas City, which will be, look, this is fulfilling my dad's legacy.
01:47One of his biggest disappointments in 1994 was that Arrowhead didn't get World Cup games.
01:52And so to actually have this to come to fruition, my brother Clark did a great job.
01:57Six great games there.
01:58So it's going to be really special, emotional to see it there.
02:02He was co-chair of the Dallas bin in 94.
02:05So that's really fun.
02:06And then I'm going to go see the U.S. play tomorrow.
02:09Go see their opener in L.A. against Paraguay.
02:11This is a big one for us.
02:13I'm excited about the U.S. team.
02:14I think the group is very manageable.
02:16And there's a good pathway.
02:17We may get to see them in Dallas.
02:19I may see a game in Miami, a game in Atlanta, New York.
02:22Wow.
02:23Yeah, take it in.
02:24I just didn't quite make it to Azteca today for Mexico.
02:28Is everything sold out in Arlington?
02:31And so every ticket I've heard is accounted for.
02:34And look, FIFA really controls all the ticketing.
02:38And they set the prices.
02:40They can have the allocations.
02:42Working with On Location, they do a lot of the hospitality stuff.
02:46But they've kept everything close to the vest on this.
02:49But I know the demand has been outrageous for this.
02:52And look, we have five unbelievable group stage matches.
02:56Dan Hunt joining us here on 105.3 Fan.
02:58I'm curious.
02:58This has been a discussion point where people have talked about buying tickets or travel or whatever else.
03:03Do you guys have any handle on these specific games here?
03:06How much of that is going to be local attendance versus people traveling from out of town?
03:12How much of this is expected to be just international or travel from outside of the state coming here?
03:16Don't see these games.
03:17Yeah, my guess on it, because you hear a lot of numbers that go with this stuff, is probably 80
03:21% are visitors, whether they're domestic or international, with about 20% local.
03:28But, I mean, what do we call local here?
03:30I mean, Oklahoma might as well be local.
03:32That's right, Bobby.
03:35What has been the biggest hurdle, unforeseen hurdle or hiccup, that you've had to deal with?
03:39You know, I think just getting out the tickets.
03:43I think that's probably been the biggest hurdle.
03:45And when I say that, not the physical distribution, but how they were distributed in sales.
03:51Right?
03:51There was, I felt like, yeah, the different lotteries was the biggest hurdle.
03:55But it was thoughtful in how FIFA wanted to do it.
03:58But we don't do tickets like this in the United States.
04:01But they've been great to work with from a standpoint of trying to understand, you know, our way of doing
04:06things versus how they do it everywhere else.
04:09Right?
04:09And, you know, if you think about it, earlier World Cups, they only had two categories to buy tickets in,
04:15one or two.
04:16And then it became three.
04:17Now there's four, but there's a lot more premium and hospitality.
04:20So it's a little bit of an education.
04:23And they've gotten a bad rap on ticket prices, which I will say, you know, they went back and lowered
04:28some, which was nice to see.
04:29They've provided some lotteries for some free tickets for kids.
04:33You know, so it's just this delicate balance.
04:36So give me a soccer education.
04:38How many did you say you've experienced now?
04:40I've seen every one since 1986.
04:43Wow.
04:44So I think I'm moving to my third hand on counting.
04:47And I've seen one women's, which was the final in 2019 when the U.S. beat Holland 2-0.
04:53It was amazing.
04:54That was a great win.
04:55But, yeah, every one since 1986.
04:56So I'm a World Cup bandwagoner.
04:58Like, I just want to be caught up in the moment.
05:00Come on.
05:00Come on.
05:01And the emotion of it and the watch party.
05:04So give me a World Cup education on the matchups that are happening here.
05:08If you want to take it broader to the bigger matchups early on, just give someone like me a soccer
05:14education for this.
05:15Okay, so here's the power talk.
05:16I feel a lot of pressure here.
05:18The big one here is England-Croatia.
05:20That's No. 4 against No. 10 in the world.
05:22That's the most coveted of the group stage matches.
05:25We have Holland against Japan kicking off in Dallas, which is June 14th.
05:30Another great match.
05:31This guy named Lionel Messi may have heard of him.
05:34He's pretty good.
05:35He's playing here twice.
05:36I mean, what a home run on that.
05:40Is there anything being close to the demand for that?
05:43Like, that's MJ?
05:45That's it?
05:45That's it.
05:46That's it.
05:46I've said it over and over.
05:47This is like seeing Michael Jordan.
05:49I had the good fortune of seeing him a few times at his best.
05:52I think I saw the average ticket price for that is about the same.
05:54That it is for any of the U.S. games.
05:57Yeah.
05:57Like, the Argentina games are right about the same as the U.S.
05:59Yeah.
06:00It wouldn't surprise me.
06:01The demand for the U.S. has been huge.
06:03I mean, I know those tickets are all gone.
06:05But I tell everybody, if you get the chance to see him, this is his last World Cup.
06:09Here's a little fact for you, though.
06:11If Argentina advances and they play Portugal, if they both make it to the quarterfinal,
06:19that quarterfinal is in Kansas City.
06:21It'll be the first, only, and last time that they play each other in the World Cup.
06:25So that would be one to save up your allowance for and go see.
06:30And then, look, the other education here is I think the U.S. team will advance.
06:34I can see us making it to the quarterfinal.
06:36Four FC Dallas products there playing on the team.
06:39We have three current FC Dallas players, including Petar Moussa, who's the star of the team,
06:44playing for Croatia, which is a huge honor.
06:47Dietzen playing for Haiti.
06:48Johansson playing for Sweden.
06:50And then I guess the last one is, everybody asked me, France, I think, is going to be the winner
06:53of the tournament.
06:55Is there, before we get to the U.S. team, is there a, does FIFA allow secondary market?
07:02So I'm starting to see tickets pop up in different places.
07:06The best place, the safest thing to do, FIFA.com, get your FIFA fan ID, and buy on their secondary
07:12marketplace.
07:13That guarantees you're not going to get ripped off on a counterfeit ticket.
07:17Dan Hunt joining us here on 105.3 The Fan.
07:20Very long title, but basically co-chair of the Dallas FIFA World Cup.
07:27A lot has been talked about, and I know Landon Donovan has spoken about it, about the development of Team
07:33USA.
07:35We have almost 400 million people here in this country, and we can never get soccer to where it is
07:40in some of these other countries.
07:42How do they, is their development different here in the U.S.?
07:46Like, how do we get our soccer program to be at the same level as it may be in Argentina
07:52and other countries?
07:53Well, in a lot of those cases in those countries, their very best athletes play as soccer.
07:58And so we still struggle because of the NFL or NBA.
08:03That's really an outlet.
08:05You know, even baseball, hockey, other sports, I mean, there are great athletes in those leagues.
08:09We're starting to get those athletes.
08:11If you look at current Team USA, we have a lot of great athletes there.
08:15But my dad always said, he said, the day the U.S. men's national team is filled with NFL corners
08:20and wide receivers, we're going to win the World Cup.
08:22And he was right about it, but those are world-class athletes, and those athletes could compete in any sport.
08:27So is U.S. soccer in a definitely much-improved state today compared to 5, 10, 15 years ago?
08:35Has it improved that much?
08:37I think U.S. soccer is in a great state right now.
08:40I think we have a very good team.
08:42Coach, you know, Mauricio Pochettino is the head coach.
08:44I think he's a talented coach.
08:46Coach, what I would say is the big issue we have is in the final third, the attacking third.
08:51And you've got to have Christian Pulisic, and you've got to have Weston McKinney, and then pick one of your
08:56number nines.
08:56Hopefully it's Ricardo Pepe, the former FC Dallas player, scoring goals.
09:00But against the really good teams that are very organized, we struggle in that final phase.
09:05Good news is Chris Richards, the FC Dallas product who's at Crystal Palace, is going to be back, I think,
09:10for the U.S. national team.
09:11He missed the last couple games because of injury.
09:13Defense should be solid, goalkeeping should be fine, but we have got to figure out that final third.
09:18Christian Pulisic has not scored except maybe one goal in his last 18 or 19 club matches.
09:24Wow.
09:24And that's the guy driving the bus.
09:26And without him, we're going to struggle if he's not producing offensively.
09:30My biggest FOMO is going to be, until you give me these tickets, is just missing the electricity inside and
09:40the pageantry.
09:42Explain to our listeners who are thinking about it, or to get them even more hyped about going, what the
09:47hell this scene is going to be like around the stadium, Texas Live.
09:52I was thinking Texas Live should be the No. 2 spot to watch if you can't even get in there.
09:56What is it going to be like inside this stadium?
09:58It's Mardi Gras.
09:59I mean, if you're an American fan, this is Mardi Gras carnival.
10:03I mean, the passion you will feel when you see these Dutch fans, and the double-decker bus is on
10:08its way.
10:09I mean, that's a thing.
10:09Orange, let's go.
10:10We're going.
10:11Me and you, we'll go together.
10:11Will you walk with me?
10:13He hyped us up.
10:14If I have time, I will come walk with you.
10:16Let's go.
10:16Let's go.
10:17Well, I mean, I'm just sort of on this concept.
10:19This game, I'm going down to watch.
10:21I want to go see this.
10:22No, it is amazing, but I'll tell you, FIFA Fan Fest down at Fair Park, free, free.
10:27It is awesome.
10:27I toured it two days ago.
10:29What a great experience with the amphitheater to watch games.
10:31You should go check it out, if not.
10:33But, yeah, it's the passion of the fans.
10:35This is like having nine Super Bowls here in Dallas.
10:38In terms of the popularity of the sport here in the U.S. stuff, because the kids all play soccer,
10:44it feels like.
10:45They're all playing it at the youth level.
10:46And then there's some, like you said, other sports probably take over,
10:48and that's maybe where some of this disconnect happens.
10:50But when Messi came to the U.S. two years ago, whatever it was, and he was playing,
10:54it seemed like that kind of introduced a surge.
10:56Have you guys noticed that interest maintaining off of Messi?
10:59Or do you need to see more of those type of stars come over here to kind of build that
11:03fan base?
11:04Yeah, I think there's only one Lionel Messi, right?
11:06But the surge is still alive.
11:08Yeah, I mean, he could.
11:10I'm just not sure anybody's going to pay him over $100 million a year to come play MLS.
11:15But, yeah, you're right.
11:17He would have a big, huge effect.
11:18But the Messi effect has lasted.
11:20And it was kind of like Beckham.
11:22We've had the good fortune of players at the right time in the league to take it to the next
11:26step.
11:27But, yeah, I mean, you're talking about one of the greatest two players of all time.
11:29But people still talk about Pelé playing in the old NASL in the 70s here.
11:34So we're at an all-time high.
11:36The Apple deal, they changed how we thought about things.
11:38So it's been really good.
11:39Is there international appetite to see the U.S. game grow?
11:42Because I think that's a thought from some people is that, like, does the international game want to see it
11:47grow in the U.S.?
11:49Or would they rather say, no, this kind of bar thing, you guys got your own interests?
11:52They're desperate for it to grow because the economics of this market, though it can support those leagues, the fandom
11:58watching them on TV, the EPL, La Liga.
12:01You want U.S. eyeballs.
12:03You want the consumer in the U.S. buying merchandise.
12:05You want them coming over to see a game over there.
12:08When did you all take over the stadium and, like, how different is the stadium going to look?
12:12Like, there's grass now.
12:14How many grass and curtain questions have you had?
12:16You know, a lot.
12:18A lot of grass, a lot of curtain questions.
12:20What is the status of the curtain?
12:22Because all jokes aside, this is a humongous, as you know, cowboy topic or the cowboy flagship.
12:28Yeah, no, I have noticed it during football games.
12:33I think they will have it, I think, closed.
12:36I don't want to speak too far out of turn on this, but the grass is spectacular.
12:39If you see these photos of what they have grown on the pitch there, it's unbelievable.
12:44The technology, the change, how much effort FIFA put into this.
12:48Because, look, FIFA in the end really cares about what goes on inside the white lines.
12:52If that doesn't look good, the integrity of the match, that's going to really eat at them on that.
12:59Would it be FIFA who wants the curtains drawn or there?
13:03You know, FIFA gets to do what FIFA wants to do, so if they want them closed.
13:08Who are the five biggest superstars I need to know?
13:11Well, look, I'm going to point to the French team.
13:13Let's just talk about it.
13:14They've got four attacking players in Mbappe, Dembele, Desiree Dui, a young player, and Olisse.
13:20They have four of maybe the best 12 or 15 players in the world on that roster.
13:25And I think they're going to win the tournament as a result of it.
13:29Look, this is the American World Cup.
13:31You've got to hope for Christian Pulisic to rise to the occasion so that they say,
13:34this truly is the greatest American soccer player that I think he can be.
13:39You know, Laminia Mal playing for Spain.
13:43Kid is, you know, I think he's 18 now.
13:45Global superstar there.
13:46I mean, you just sort of go one after another, these nations.
13:51But we've got to focus on the U.S. having a great tournament here.
13:54I mean, Harry Kane for England is in a form right now.
13:58He plays at Bayern Munich in Germany.
14:00I think he broke their goal-scoring record in a single season.
14:03He is on fire.
14:04Focus on Harry Kane.
14:06Anything else you think our soccer fans or listeners need to know?
14:10Look, come enjoy it.
14:11Come celebrate it.
14:12Pass out that Texas hospitality.
14:14These are our visitors, our guests.
14:15This is our moment to show we're ready for Women's World Cup 2031.
14:18We want to host the final.
14:20We didn't get the final for 2026.
14:22Got a semifinal.
14:23But this is a commercial to show why we live in a great sports town.
14:26Don't be like those scumbags in New York that we're seeing outside the Garden.
14:30Here in England.
14:31Thank you so much.
14:32Yeah, who's going to be the most riled up foreign international fan base?
14:38Who's going to be the craziest?
14:40I think the best two to watch are Brazil and Holland.
14:43The Samba of the Brazilians and that passion and the Dutch and how they bring it.
14:48I mean, they show UT a little something about the color orange.
14:52Awesome interview as always.
14:53Thank you so much for the time.
14:55Enjoy and thank you.
14:56He's the man.
14:57Dan Hunt.
14:57In studio.
14:58Workup.
14:59Getting started today.
15:00Stay in.
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